Today marked the one-month anniversary of Donald Trump telling Americans that "The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA" and that the "Stock Market starting to look very good to me!"
On that note, a roundup of some of today's COVID-19 news.
• Efforts to pass legislation providing for economic relief continued throughout the day after a Mitch McConnell-led Senate effort sputtered due to lack of Democratic support.
• The current White House and Republican trial balloon is a potential move to lift social distancing measures early to limit economic damage caused by business shutdowns. This move, which would with absolute certainty lead to greater numbers of deaths, may not be more than a temporary economic boost because mass deaths and collapse of a nation's healthcare systems also tend to cause economic turmoil.
• New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo blasted the proposal: "We're not going to accept a premise that human life is disposable."
• Online, a new "#DieForTheDow" hashtag mocked and condemned the would-be tradeoff. And do Republicans understand that the Americans they are suggesting be sacrificed to reopen the economy are disproportionately their own base?
• Arguments that the elderly and immunocompromised are most at risk from the virus have tended to overshadow the real truth: The virus is threatening plenty of younger and healthier people as well.
• The United States is primed to become the new world epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, as U.S. cases rise above those of Italy and other tertiary hotspots—with few signs of decelerating. Especially at risk in this country: "low-income people, people in rural areas, homeless people, single parents, inmates, and more."
• Private businesses are beginning to take aggressive actions themselves to help fight COVID-19 in their communities.
• Trump's continued insistence that specific named drugs may be "game changers" in fighting COVID-19 has caused at least one American death when an elderly couple took a similar drug in the belief that it would prevent COVID infection. These drugs have not been proven to be effective, though trials are underway; nevertheless, lupus sufferers and other Americans are now facing shortages of one of the much-needed drugs as other Americans hoard it after hearing Trump describe its supposed benefits.
• Despite clear dangers of pandemic spread in the typically overcrowded and unsanitary facilities, the government continues to confine asylum-seeking families in detention centers rather than releasing them. Those not yet admitted to the United States, instead being forced to remain in Mexico by new administration policy, will be waiting longer as U.S. immigration courts postpone all cases through April 22.
• At least five people have tested positive for the virus after attending a "disco party" at Trump's Rancho Palos Verdes, California, golf club. Six of his private businesses are now shut down due to the pandemic.
• Liberty University, run by fervent Trump ally Jerry Falwell Jr., announced it would be reopening the campus despite pandemic measures. There is no word on what steps will be taken to prevent virus transmission to the neighboring community; Falwell says only that "99% of [students] are not at the age to be at risk and they don't have conditions that put them at risk."
• While Fox News personalities were dismissing the possibility of nationwide pandemic and downplaying the number of likely deaths, Fox News owner Rupert Murdoch was self-isolating to avoid the virus.
• The first political ads condemning Trump's response to the pandemic highlight his continued dismissals of the virus even as U.S. cases continued to mount.
• Be wary of evangelical organizations promoting homeschooling as long-term answer to pandemic spread. Few regulations and little oversight continue to plague the movement and endanger children.
• Hate crimes against Asian Americans are on the rise as Trump promotes a new talking point shifting blame for his own poor response to the emerging pandemic by calling it the "Chinese virus" in public events. This is because Trump's most reliable viewers are (1) racist and (2) some of the stupidest people in America.
• Lighter news to end on: Combatting the stress of the pandemic and its effects with viral videos and #ClubQuarantine
from Daily Kos https://ift.tt/2woTkpz
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